BOSTON (CBS) – Over the years, I’ve made my support for the death penalty very clear in this forum.

I’ve always felt it is a punishment that fits certain crimes, and if it gives a measure of relief to the criminal’s victims, it’s worth doing, even though professional death-penalty opponents have turned it into a very expensive undertaking.

Listen to Jon’s commentary:

Keller at Large Jan 31 2014

But watching two serious, principled capital punishment opponents, Gov. Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, struggle Thursday to balance their belief with their obvious desire to see the surviving alleged Boston Marathon mass murderer receive a fitting sentence, I find myself also struggling with the call.

I have no doubt that a death sentence would be appropriate.

The accused fits all the relevant criteria – premeditation, full comprehension of his actions, extreme malice and cruelty, open-and-shut guilt, and a lack of any apparent remorse.

And beyond that, there’s a compelling argument that execution would remove any possibility of the sort of celebrification we saw in that revolting Rolling Stone article that might further torture the victims and their families, let alone excite his fellow hatemongers around the world.

Writes Fox: “He should…have the exact same fate as many other convicted mass murderers, by living and dying in painful obscurity, hidden away from the spotlight of the media and worldwide attention that many criminals find sustaining and reason enough to die.”

So while I won’t shed a tear if this creature is put to death, perhaps it is better that he rot in prison for a few decades, before he rots in hell.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.